Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Aw, they think they killed Deathstroke; that's adorable.

I know I'm an old, I'm not sure I recognize half these Teen Titans today. From 2020, Teen Titans Annual #2, "I Was Robin" Written by Robbie Thompson, pencils by Eduardo Pansica, inks by JĂșlio Ferreira.
Damian Wayne appears to have turned this incarnation of the Titans into his own murder squad, and they're confronted by Batman after they had killed Deathstroke and Brother Blood. Well, Brother Blood, maybe; as Deathstroke takes a potshot at them all with a bazooka, that appears to demolish an entire city block but not kill anybody. 

While the Titans are a little relieved not to have murdered Deathstroke, Damian takes after him to finish the job. Batman attempts to bench the kids, but they get to Damian and Deathstroke first, trying to fix their mistakes, like following Damian. Damian, however, is not having it: He knows putting Deathstroke away would accomplish nothing, he would absolutely kill again, and honestly...yeah, probably. Red Arrow Emiko throws herself in front of a killing blow to save DS: she comes away with a shoulder wound, but of course Deathstroke escapes, which the Titans see as a target painted on their backs.
Batman arrives, to try and get Damian to stop, and catches a double-page spread of a punch: this was shortly after the death of Alfred at the hands of Bane, and it's safe to say Damian is taking it pretty hard. Damian fights hard, while calling Batman out for "the same result. Over. And over." But Batman refuses to fight back.
Damian tears the R off his chest: "You will never truly see me as long as I am in your shadow." No longer Robin, he was now free--but seemingly no longer a part of the Titans, either. 

I'm deeply behind on current DC continuity; I think Alfred's still dead and Bruce Wayne's lost his money? But I suspect Damian is back as Robin again, if for no other reason than he knows the importance of good branding. Of course the Titans could be completely different as well; I'd almost bet on it.

2 comments:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Hilarious typo there "I know I'm an old." *Sigh* me too brother, me too...

I do think Damien's back as Robin though. For how long, I have no idea. I think the company sees more financial value in keeping him as Robin via merch like shirts, toys, movies, etc, which puts that agenda at odds with certain Bat-writers who probably want to shake things up for the sake of doing something else with him? All I know is Damian as Robin isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

CalvinPitt said...

This bugged me in the way Damian always has. This kid decapitated a man his first night out as Robin, and Batman just let it slide. Now he's killing villains, or locking them up in Titans Tower and brain washing them or something, and he gets to choose to stop being Robin. Compared to the stuff Batman used to use as an excuse to take the costumes away from Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake, or Jason Todd, the stuff Damian gets away with is ridiculous.

Nepotism is the ultimate superpower, apparently.